Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Lilium announced at the Farnborough International Airshow that it has formed a strategic partnership with vertical flight solutions company Bristow. The arrangement, outlined in a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU), includes plans for Bristow to purchase 50 Lilium eVTOL jets and provide Part 145 maintenance services for the Lilium Jet’s launch network in Florida and other U.S. and European markets. It also has provisions for collaborating on regulatory approvals for the eVTOL design.
“Leveraging our 70+ year legacy of innovative and sustainable vertical flight to partner with companies like Lilium to usher in a new era of vertical flight solutions is a cornerstone of Bristow’s future operational outlook,” said Bristow President and CEO Christopher Bradshaw. “Bristow has played a key role in successfully introducing several new VTOL platforms for the past 50+ years, so it is a natural evolution for us to take a leading role in the new and exciting Advanced Air Mobility market and lend our expertise to innovative and dynamic companies like Lilium.”
Lilium has previously stated that it is targeting a top speed of up to 300 km/h (162 knots) for the seven-seat version of the Lilium Jet. The company is aiming for the aircraft to provide regional air taxi and freight services on routes ranging from 40 to 200 km (22-108 NM) at launch with a goal of extending the range to up to 500 km (270 NM). As previously reported by AVweb, Lilium’s Phoenix 2 technology demonstrator achieved main wing transition during flight testing last month.
“… vertical flight solutions company” = helicopter operator.
“non-binding memorandum of understanding” = we might buy if it works.
“Leveraging our 70+ year legacy of innovative and sustainable vertical flight to partner with companies like Lilium to usher in a new era of vertical flight solutions is a cornerstone of Bristow’s future operational outlook”
= we are an experienced helicopter operator hedging our bets.
“Bristow has played a key role in successfully introducing several new VTOL platforms for the past 50+ years,”. Really? Never heard of them before they developed this contraption, yet another coal-powered Rube Goldberg that will never go beyond the prototype stage, when money from government grants and naive investors run out. Another vision of a smoking hole in the ground.
Your ignorance is stunning. Bristow was founded in 1955, and has a fleet of nearly 500 aircraft. They bring in billions of dollars of revenue per year.
Kent has made a lot of stupid comments today but this one takes the crown. Never heard of Bristow? The largest non-military helicopter operator in the world who has been around for 60+ years? Ignorance is bliss, or complete mental psychosis if your in the AvWeb comment section.
…ummm, Mr. M, it’s probably a really good thing to do 30 seconds of research before making a comment that demonstrates a lack of even rudimentary knowledge of the helicopter industry. They have this thingy called “Google” and, if you just type in “Bristow” in the search bar, about 18 nanoseconds later out pops Bristow Helicopters… a VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing, hence the acronym) corporation with 6 decades of service. Ooops.
According to Bristol’s annual report, almost all of their non-government revenue is heli transport to offshore oil rigs in N. Europe, USA, and other rigs in Africa and S America.
Bristol’s board is made of oil bank execs. Bristol is petrol-services company with a few gov’t support contracts. (nothing wrong with any of that IMO)
However, Bristol’s investor relations folks are plainly hunting up growth funding and trying to spin themselves as something other than a Big Oil service company, so I imagine the conversation goes like:
– CEO: “Hey let’s rent a VIP tent at Farnborough and dig up some vaporware eVTOL shill and have a ceremony where we make a commitment to sustainable transport”
– VP: “To offshore oil rigs??? Uh, ok. Which one boss?, it looks like they’re all pretty pie-in-the-sky propositions.”
– CEO: “Does it matter?, they’re all years behind schedule with no real path to certification or viable operation and giving fairy tale timelines to gullibles; just pick one. Just make sure we only sign a non-binding MOU that commits us to nothing and keep the terms private but sounds nice.”
– VP: “Do you really think people are that gullible? Won’t it look conniving for us to claim to we’re focused on the environment when we’re really all oil bankers and petrol transport has been our meal ticket for 70+ years?”
– CEO: “Naaah, just put out a press release. Make sure you say “sustainable” though. There’s tons of ‘Aviation Journalists’ that eat this stuff up.”
– VP: “You mean like how we show only female chopper pilots on our media release pics but less than 4% of our pilot staff are actually women? Don’t you think someone in the media will call us our cynical manipulation of societal needs to improve transport emissions and generally promote diversity in aviation?”
– CFO: “Are you kidding me, I wager you 100 Euros this presser is on dozens of aviation web pages as ‘News’ by July 20. OK, Let me look at your draft PR…uh, looks good, but add a few more mentions of ‘sustainable’, would you?
– VP: “OK, boss, here’s my updated draft. Is saying “sustainable” five times too many in 3/4 a page?”
– CFO: “Oh heck, no! Add a sixth! That’s why I’m in charge, mate!”…
sorry, it incorrectly spell-corrected Bristow
You should write a sitcom, Carl, that was great!